Schambach Castle

Schambach Castle
Creation time :	1200 to 1600
Castle type :	Moated castle
Conservation status:	completely preserved
Standing position :	Noble
Place:	Schambach
Geographical location	48 ° 51 '7.8 " N , 12 ° 41' 11.8" E Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '7.8 " N , 12 ° 41' 11.8" E

Castle around 1700 (engraving by Michael Wening )

The Schambach Castle is a moated castle between Plattling and Straubing and the landmark of the village Schambach in the municipality Straßkirchen .

history

Schambach Castle

Since the property is in the original settlement area of the Gäuboden , there are suspicions that there could have been a previous Roman building . A castle in Schambach is first mentioned around 800; it could have been a wooden manor house . The exact location of this building can no longer be determined.

The castle itself was built in brick in the Middle Ages . It is built in the old Gothic style on oak posts and was already surrounded by a moat back then, which, however, was much larger than it is today. A drawbridge prevented intruders from entering. Two hexagonal towers defy to the west, at the eastern entrance there was a guard tower , which was demolished in 1318 and replaced by an extension. At the main entrance to the castle there is a small tower with a spiral staircase. On the east side there are two side entrances with candle arches that rest on stone pillars. Originally there was the horse stable on the ground floor and the Fronfeste (stately rooms) on the upper floor .

Around 1550, the castle was converted into a two-wing complex using old components. This happened under the Trenbach family, who were the owners until the Thirty Years' War . Then she came to the St. Emmeram Abbey in Regensburg for a short time , later in private hands again. The last major renovation took place in the early Renaissance with the installation of arcades . The castle has remained largely unchanged since then.

Since the castle lords of Hofmark Schambach the lower courts could exercise, they had to sit and pass judgment also the right offender caught, not to judge but about their life and limb. But they apparently did so anyway, because years ago several knives and skeletons were found in the northwestern castle tower . So there were secret executions of uncomfortable contemporaries in Schambach Castle . They disappeared forever in the hunger or knife tower. There was an underground corridor connection to the nearby Moosdorf Castle (distance about four kilometers). An investigation has confirmed this assumption, but the corridor is no longer passable.

Main entrance with castle bridge

In 1813, Count Franz Gabriel von Bray , who had moved to Irlbach in 1811, bought the castle with important property at auction for 90,000 guilders . He saved this great monument from deterioration. Schambach came temporarily under the Irlbach jurisdiction. In 1961, Adalbert Freiherr von Poschinger-Bray offered the inherited Schambach Castle for sale. The district of Straubing initially tried to acquire it with the intention of setting up a farming museum there. Then in 1962 Baroness Elisabeth von Oefele from Munich bought the castle property. With the involvement of the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments , the new owner arranged for a thorough renovation of the building. The lowering of the groundwater caused massive damage to the pile foundation, further damage in the roof structure put pressure on the arcades, where deformations required emergency safety. The outdoor facilities were redesigned with a moat all around and a wooden bridge (formerly a drawbridge) as access. The restaurant operated on Schlossplatz was canceled. Inside the lofty structure, a castle chapel was newly established.

photos

Web links

Commons : Schambach Castle - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Schambach Castle (PDF; 94 kB), website of the German Foundation for Monument Protection

swell

Karl Böhm, Gerhard Meixner: Schambach: “ A contribution to the pre-Roman settlement history of the Lower Bavarian Gäuboden ”. In: Karl Schmotz: Lectures of the 17th Lower Bavarian Archaeological Day. 1999.
Website of the community of Straßkirchen